Dr Howard Alper

Dr Howard Alper has been awarded the new Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering which guarantees the Univ of Ottawa researcher $1 million in research funding over the next five years. Awarded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the medal was awarded to Alper after an international peer review of the three nominees and adjudication by an NSERC jury. Alper is U of O's vice-rector of research and the prize increases the research funding he receives from NSERC by $345,000. Alper is a leading chemist acknowledged for his work developing tools to synethesize and modify molecules, which have particular application in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. He was chosen to receive the award over Dr David Schindler, a leading environmental scientist specializing in boreal lake ecology, and Dr David Regan, an internationally renowned psychologist who explores brain processes underlying collision avoidance. The award was presented earlier this month in Ottawa along with NSERC's annual Steacie Fellowships and Doctoral Prizes....